Defence, international relations, strategy, and security, and some other stuff…

Tag: Politics

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT BACKBENCH UK Toby Fountain’s article Britain’s military identity crisis: Questioning our place in a new balance of power is centred on the idea that Britain is in ‘a schism between an old Britain we cling on to that no longer exists and the new Britain in a new world that we are reluctant to acknowledge’. His argument stems from this point, but it’s … Continue reading Why the world needs an engaged United Kingdom

In the past 24 hours, I’ve noticed something. 2016 seems to have got a bad press. People have turned ‘2016’ into memes. All the awful things that have happened this year. There’s one featuring Leonardo DiCaprio that I have featured here. But here’s the thing. I don’t like cynicism, or negativity. I see these jokes about how awful 2016 has been, and think “it can’t … Continue reading 2016: Was it all that bad?

In light of Jeremy Corbyn’s comments over the Falkland Islands recently, I thought I would discuss the topic that continues to grow in significance, the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. The Falklands were first inhabited by the French in 1764. Since, they have been under British, Argentine, Spanish, American AND French control at any one time. Since 1834, with the exception of the period of 1982 … Continue reading The Sovereignty of The Falkland Islands

On the 4th March, MPs will debate whether to adopt an official national anthem. The current situation is as follows. God Save the Queen is the national anthem for the UK as a whole, however is used by England at sporting events. Other countries in the UK have their own unofficial anthems. Scotland for example sings ‘Flower of Scotland’. Why does England need a National … Continue reading The National Anthem

Sometime within the next year, the Government will debate and then vote on Trident. The current generation of nuclear submarines that carry Trident will end their lifespan in the late 2020s, and so the decision as to whether Britain will commit to renewing Trident needs to be made soon. First, a little bit of information. Trident is a submarine based nuclear missile system. The Vanguard-class submarine is … Continue reading Trident-For and Against